The Advantages & Disadvantages of Arranged & by Choice Marriages
The prevailing sentiment is that "love matches start out hot and grow cold, while arranged marriages start out cold and grow hot" and that arranged marriages tend to be marriages for life (Xiaohe & Whyte, 1990, p. 710). This is due not only to the inflation of passion that can wane dramatically but also due to what Constantina Safilios-Rothschild (1975, p. 76) refers to as "resource theory," or the provision of and access to assets in the marriage that can be brought by both partners. In addition, Applbaum (1995, p. 37) points out that arranged marriages in Japan "are premised upon the similarity of social standing of the families of the prospective couple, and the families are very much involved in the process of selecting a marriage partner." This suggests that the individual the family selects is more than likely to be someone with whom the person can and will be compatible by virtue of shared background and interests.

A down side to arranged marriages is that they are not always legitimate. Barry (1981, p. 47) notes that "In cultures where dowry and arranged marriages are still practiced, [sexual slavery] procurers often pose as potential husbands who are willing to pay a family for marriage to their daughters or as labor contractors who promise young girls a job in the city;" once the arrangements are made, the girls ar

 

Barry, K. (1981). Female Sexual Slavery: Understanding the International Dimensions of Women's Oppression. Human Rights Quarterly, 3(2), (May), 44-52. Johns Hopkins University Press. JSTOR. Retrieved on February 9, 2010 from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/761856

Levine, R., Sato, S., Hashimoto, T., Verma, J. (1995). Love and Marriage in Eleven Cultures. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 26, 554-571. SagePub. Retrieved on February 9, 2010 from: http://jcc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/26/5/554

Xiaohe, X., Whyte, M.K. (1990). Love Matches and Arranged Marriages: A Chinese Replication. Journal of Marriage and Family, 52(3), (Aug), 709-722. JSTOR. Retrieved on February 9, 2010 from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/352936

On the other hand, the assumption that "Love is fission" rather than fusion is bolstered by U.S. divorce statistics that hover around 50%. Proponents of arranged marriage point to the fact that marriage for love can fizzle out quickly, leaving the participants with no underlying relationship to hold them together. Since many American married couples today have slept together long before their nuptials, their entire relationship prior to marriage can be predicated almost entirely on sex, leaving them without the progression from acquaintanceship to friendship to love that was more common in courting days and that fostered the development of a deeper and more committed relationship. A University of Michigan study on premarital nonfamily experience and spouse choice in an arranged marriage society found that where that society was migrating toward a marriage for love paradigm, participation of the potential marriage partners in nonfamily experiences such as youth clubs "have strong positive effects on individual participation in the choice of a spouse" (Ghimire, Ainn, Yabiku, Thornton, 2006, p. 1181).

Safilios-Rothschild, C. (1976). A Macro- and Micro-Examination of Family Power and Love: An Exchange Mod

 
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    Xiaohe Whyte | Constantina Safilios-Rothschild | | Middle East | Yabiku Thornton | Retrieved February | University Michigan | India Moreover | Hashimoto Verma | Indeed China | arranged marriages | arranged marriage | retrieved february | retrieved february 9 | february 9 | 9 2010 | february 9 2010 | marriage love | jstor retrieved february | jstor retrieved | marriage family | journal marriage | xiaohe whyte | choice arranged marriage | journal marriage family |  
   
 
 
 
   
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